Like the birth of the universe, the Dunedin Space Programme has arrived with a big bang.
Programme organiser Amadeo Enriquez Ballestero said potential astronauts would be tested every Friday in Dunedin.
The programme was designed to get children enjoying science and was riding a wave of popularity for astronomy.
The programme was in its first year and recruiting members.
The membership included 35 pupils from Kavanagh College, Bayfield High School, Otago Boys' High School and John McGlashan College.
A programme experiment at Robin Hood Park in Dunedin this week was designed to show the extremes of a rocket launch and how the human body functioned in space.
''We lose sense of what is up and what is down.''
An astronaut spent hours training inside a spinning machine before travelling to space and living without gravity.
To replicate a gravity-free environment on Earth, pupils were strapped into a large inflatable ''Zorb'' ball in Dunedin and pushed down a hill for a minute.
''They need to get used to it and go with it ... at the moment they are screaming and feeling the chaos of it all but really there is no chaos during a launch - everything is very settled and astronauts are working.''
The Zorb ride released an adrenaline rush and left pupils wanting more, Mr Enriquez Ballestero said.
The pupils would ride in the Zorb several times again and be given work to complete during the roll to simulate working without gravity.
